Rapid changes in hardware capability are occurring, thus making capture systems and displays available that have the potential for presenting very high quality image and video. For example, advancements include the ability to capture and display high frame rate information for reducing motion blur, capturing and displaying images with high dynamic range or extended color gamut, and the ability to simultaneously capture and display multiple perspective views of a scene.
Once content is captured, it is distributed, often to large communities, to be displayed. This distribution step can be expensive when significant changes are made to the information that is to be conveyed, especially since the specification and adoption of distribution formats and standards are time-consuming and expensive. For example, the adoption of digital television standards in the United States required decades of work.
It is known to store a digital image having a limited color gamut and extended color gamut information separately and then to reconstruct an image having extended color gamut information from these two sets of information. For example, Spaulding, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,937,362, entitled “Method for providing access to an extended color gamut digital image and providing payment therefore” describe a method for storing a limited color gamut digital image and one or more residual images within a digital image file and later reconstructing a high dynamic range image from the limited color gamut digital image and the one or more residual images. Spaulding discusses a system in which a user is provided a preview of the image using the limited color gamut digital image and provided access to the reconstructed high dynamic range image only after providing payment for the high quality image. Such a method can provide higher quality information by encoding a lower quality image in a standard format and then encoding image enhancement information in a different format within the same file. However, as the limited color gamut image and the residual image necessary to reconstruct the image having extended color gamut information are stored in the same file, the residual images increase the size of the file containing limited color gamut image. As most standards and distribution media have fixed size or bandwidth, placing this information on the same distribution media is often not practical.
Similarly Schreiber et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,405, entitled “Receive-compatible enhanced definition television system” discusses a method of broadcasting a signal having a frequency range compatible with NTSC broadcast and a separate signal within a separate frequency range wherein the separate signal includes enhancement information. Once again, however, these two signals are provided within the same data transport mechanism and require the bandwidth of the transport mechanism be increased to support this additional information, requiring a modification of the existing standard. Lim in U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,270, entitled “Advanced television system” similarly discusses encoding HDTV resolution imagery and higher resolution imagery within different portions of a compressed file.
Tomsen et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 7,320,134, entitled “System and method for cable operator control over enhanced programming” describes a system in which standard video content is provided. However, the user can access other, non-video, content, for example, links to complimentary text or video information that is related to but not part of the video, thus providing an enhanced experience. Tomsen et al. acknowledges the source of the video can be separate from the source of the non-video content.
There is therefore a continuing need to provide a flexible and robust method for distribution of media that can be tailored to the performance characteristics of a user's display when different displays have significantly different performance characteristics. Such a method should permit the distribution of a standard quality video using standardized formats and media and simultaneously permit the video to take advantage of specialized characteristics of the user's display. This method should permit content to be distributed using standardized, backward compatible data transport mechanisms while simultaneously permitting a display capable of presenting information with enhanced image quality to access additional information and present images with enhanced image quality.